Ice cube breaker



A. F. JACKSON ICE CUBE BREAKER March 14,1950

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 30, 1947 INVENTOR.

A TORNEY.

.E-EE? A. F. JACKSON ICE CUBE BREAKER March 14, 1950 s Sheets-Shet 2Filed Jan. 30, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

TTORNEY.

March 14, 1950 A. F. JACKSON 2,500,828

ICE CUBE BREAKER Filed Jan. 30, 1947 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVIIYIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII 7!!!!4 .7

5 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I IINVENTOR.

AT ORNEY.

I W IA Patented Mar. 14, 1950 UN IT ED STATES OFFICE ICE CUBE BREAKERAlexander F. Jackson, East Orange, N. J.

ApplicationJanuary 30, 1947, Serial No. 725,403

This invention relates in general to devices for" crushing, splitting orbreaking small ice cubes into small pieces suitable for use in coolingbeverages in glasses.

A prime object of the invention is to provide an. ice cube breaker whichshall include a magazine for ice cubes and a novel construction andcombination therewith of opposed levers having rugged teeth whereby amaximum of crushing pressure may be applied to an ice cube by said teethwith a relatively small manual effort and in. an eflicient manner.

Another object is to provide such a device which shall include strongblade-like teeth mounted in a novel and improved manner on said leverswhereby an ice cube can be easily and quickly broken with a minimum ofdanger of the teeth becoming loosened or broken and mixed with thecrushed ice.

Another object is to arrange the cutting teeth on the levers so that theteeth will gnaw off pieces of ice from the cube progressively with aminimum of effort and will facilitate the discharge of the crushed ice.

Another object is to provide an ice breaker that shall have a novel andimproved base so that the device can be set and operated'directly on areceptacle such as a glass shaker or the like or can be operated whileheld over a bowl, ice bag filling opening, etc.

Another object is to provide means for preventing the. ice cubes fromfreezing upon the inner wall of the. magazine or hopper for holding theicecubes.

Another object is to provide an ice cube breaker thatis ortable,compact, sturdy, simple in construction, economical to. manufacture andhighly efficient in use.

Other objects and. advantages of' the invention will'be apparent fromthe description thereof to follow taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which-- Figure 1. is a perspective view of anice cube breaker embodying my invention.

Figure 2 'is an elevational side view of the breaker in closed operativeposition.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the plane of the line3-3 ofFigure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the breaker in openinoperative position, parts being broken away.

Figure 5' is a cross sectional view taken on the plane-of theline' 5-5of Figure 2. y

Figure 6 is a cross sectional viewtaken on' the plane-of the line 6-6 ofFigure 3.-

2. Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the breakertaken on a plane at right angles to the plane of the section of Figure3.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary side view showing the bottom of the breaker,parts being omitted.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary front view showing the bottom, parts beingbroken away and parts being omitted. I

Figure 10 is a fragmentary vertical sectiona view on the line ill-l0 ofFigure 4, showing the yoke bearing construction.

Referring to the drawings, the ice cube breaker comprises a tubular baseI of soft rubber or rubber composition whose inner wall is formed withtwo oppositely disposed tapered wall sections 2 and two oppositelydisposed straight wall sections 3 and whose lower wall is formed with arecess 4. A tubular metal magazine or hopper 5 for receiving the icecubes to be broken is supported by the base. This magazine isrectangular in cross-section and the lower end of each of its narrowwalls 6 is tapered as indicated at I and fits against the adjacenttapered wall sections 2 of the base. The lower end of each of the widewalls 8 is straight and fits against the straight wall section 3 of thebase. The magazine is fastened to the base by lugs 9 instruc'k from thelower edges of the walls thereof and projecting into notches l0 formedin the inner wall of the base adjacent its bottom end. Each wall of themagazine is formed with an elongated rib H disposed centrally thereoffor preventing the ice cubes from coming into contact with and freezingto the inner surface of the wall.

Each of the wide walls 8 is formed with an upper row of openings [3adjacent the lower end, with another'row of openings l4 below theopenings l3 and with a pair of openings l5 below the openings I 4.

Pivotally mounted on parallel axes on: the narrow walls 6 of themagazine at their lower ends are opposed handle yokes or' frames 16.Each yoke consists of a pair of spaced arms l! connected at their upperends by a cross bar 18. The lower end of each arm is enlarged to form adisc member [9 having a central pivot opening 28 and a portion of theperiphery of which disc member is formed with teeth 2|. 7

Positioned adjacent the lower end of each' narrow side wall 6 is a pivotbearing plate 22-", the lower end of which engages the upper: edge ofthe base. Another plate 23 is positioned in align.- ment with the platezzi'but spaced therefrom byplates and the spacer adj acentthe upperedgeof the plates positions the plates relatively to the wall 6. Thescrew passes through the side wall 6 and projects into the inside of themagazine as seen in Figure 7. The side plates 22 and 23 project beyondthe ends of the side Walls 6 and are formed with aligned openings 26.The yokes are so arranged that each disc member I9 is positioned betweenthe side plates 22 and 23 with its opening 20 in alignment with theopenings 26 of the side plates. A pivot pin or screw 21 extends throughthe aligned openings in the side plates and disc member and has itsinner end threaded into the side plate 22. A bearing mem-.

ber 28 is positioned in the opening in the disc member I9 and around thescrew 21 with its inner edge seated in an annular groove in the sideplate 22. The disc member oscillates around this bearing member. Thedisc members of the respective yokes are disposed in oppositerelationship to each other with their teeth 2| in continuous mesh witheach other.

Carried on the upper surface of each cross bar I8 is a blade member 29formed with projecting cutting teeth 30 which are approximately flat orelongatein cross section slightly curved transversely and taper to apoint. Supported below the cross bar is another blade member 3| formedwith similar cutting teeth 32. The blade members are rigidly secured tothe cross bar by bolts 33 and nuts 34 which also support spacers 35 forspacing the blade member 3| away from the cross bar and blade member 29.The blade members are arranged different distances from the axes of thepivotal mounting of the yoke members with the larger dimensions of theteeth transverse of the direction of the length of the magazine.

A tubular elongated actuating handle 36 is fastened to each cross bar I8by a bolt 31 passing through the cross bar and upper blade member 29 andthreaded into the lower internally screwthreaded end of the handle. Thehandle may be provided with a ball 38 at its upper end which may beformed integrally with the handle or formed separately of plastic orother suitable material. The yokes are thus mounted to pivot about thebearing members 28 on pivot screws -21 in an arcuate direction as seenin Figure 4 and they swing synchronously by and upon actuation of eitherthereof by the operator.

Mounted on the outside of each of the wide walls 8 adjacent its lowerend is a flanged plate bearing plates 22 tightly to the tube member 5.

Each of the flanged plates is formed with a plurality of instruck lugs4I which pass inwardly through the pair of openings I5 in each wide wall8 and project into the interior of the tubular magazine as seen inFigure 6. The lugs are positioned directly opposite each other and theirupper edges are in alignment with the inwardly projecting ends of thescrews 25 as shown in Figure 7, thereby providing with said screws asupport for holding the ice cube in position for breaking.

; In use, the ice cube breaker is mounted on the glass or otherreceptacle which is to receive the broken ice by placing the recessedportion 4 of the base on the rim of said glass. The yokes are swung bythe handles to the outward inoperative oropen position as shown inFigure 1. The ice cubes are inserted through the open top of the tubularmagazine and slide along the ribs II to the lu s. andscrews 25, the.bottom cube being 4 supported opposite the openings I3 and I4 in thewalls 8. The yokes are then swung inwardly in an are so that the teeth30 and 32 are thrust through the openings I3 and I4, respectively. Thearrangement and shape of the teeth and direction of movement are suchthat the lower teeth 32 first engage the ice cube and partially break itand immediately thereafter the upper teeth engage the remaining unbrokenportion of the cube and break it. Both sets of teeth in addition tobreaking the ice cube assist in feeding the broken ice downwardlythrough the outlet 42 of the magazine directly into the receptacle forreceiving the broken ice. The inherent resiliency of the material of thebase permits the upper edge of the receptacle to be pressed into liquidtight engagement with the lower wall of the base.

For the purpose of holding the handles 36 normally in an out-of-the-wayposition alongside of the magazine 5, I pivotally mount a latch 43 onone of the spacers 24 between the plates 22 and 23 to cooperate with anotch 44 in one of the discs it, and for ease in operation the latch maybe formed with a finger piece 45. When the handles are swung upwardly asshown in Figures 2, 3 and 5, the latch 43 is swung downwardly into thenotch 44 to hold the handles in vertical position, while when it isdesired to crush ice cubes, the latch is manually swung upwardly out ofthe notch 44 to release the yoke I6 and handles as shown in Figures 1and 4.

Preferably the yokes are identical in construction and the teeth 2I areout differently on the discs at the opposite ends of each yoke so thatthe yokes can be interchangeably used on either the right-hand side orleft-hand side of the machine by simply reversing the yokes. It will benoted that the outward and inward swinging of the yokes is limited byengagement of the end teeth of one yoke with the end teeth of the otheryoke as best shown in Figure 4.

Changes in details might be made without departing from the scope orprinciple of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. An ice cube breaker comprising a tubular magazine for holding icecubes and having a plurality of rows of openings in and spacedlongitudinally of opposed walls thereof, a pair of inverted U-shapedhandle yoke members pivotally mounted in opposed relation on spacedparallel axes on the outside of the magazine, each handle yoke memberhaving a disk-like portion on each of its arms intergeared with thejuxtaposed disk-like provided with a row of approximately fiatprojecting teeth for each row of openings disposed with their largerdimensions transverse of the direction of the length of said tubularmagazine, so that said handle yoke members will be synchronouslypivotally actuated by and upon swinging movement of either thereof andsaid teeth are moved in an arc through the respective openings and intothe interior of the magazine for cutting the ice cubes therein.

2. An ice cube breaker as defined in claim 1 with the addition of lugsprojecting inwardly from the walls of said magazine below said teeth forsupporting the ice cubes in the magazine, whereby said approximatelyfiat teeth will break ice cubes and force the broken pieces of. icebetween tubular rigid-walled hopper having a plurality of'rigidly-inwardly projecting lugs near its letter fend-and supporting anicecube in the hopper," ajpairof opposed lever handles pivotallymounted" on spaced horizontal parallel axis on said hopper exteriorlythereof, gmeans intergearing said handles for swinging toward and fromeach other,

. a. plurality of horizontal rows of cutting blades -on .eachflhandle atdifferent distances fromthe axe'si'bfpthe pivotal; mounting of saidhandles and aboyfef said lugsflisaid hopper having holes in"- itfs''walls for entry gandvexitof said blades intof of the hopperfaridisfaidaxes of piYotal I n ou'nting 'of said handles being disposed relativeedzjhopper and said-'ilugfs so that said blades iipon -for ceableswinging .of the handles toward": 'achfother enter said 'holes 'iw-iththe blades nearer said axesv first gripping an'd 'holding the ice cubefirmly in contact with said lugs and against upward movement in thehopper and thereafter the other blades piercing the tube in directionssubstantially perpendicular to the axis of the hopper, thereby to breakthe cube into pieces capable of passing said lugs and through the lowerend of said hopper.

ALEXANDER F. JACKSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 62,539 Fowler Mar. 5, 1867419,200 Kahlenberg Jan. 14, 1890 464,039 Richard Dec. 1, 1891 1,019,031Emery et a1. Mar. 5, 1912 1,351,243 Graves Aug. 31, 1920 2,123,827Eyrick et a]. July 12, 1938

